In the past I have written about the dangers of complacency in your relationship with God, or the place that you are at with Him. I've talked about how we can loose our drive to chase after more with God when we become complacent. And how He does not want us to be complacent, He wants us to want to go deeper with Him...and He wants to take us there. However this morning as I was praying about what to write today, I heard God place the word "content" on my heart. I stopped and said "I thought you didn't want us to just become content with where we are?" And that's when I felt Him say look up the definition of the two words....you must understand the difference. So I did. The definition of complacency is "a feeling of quiet pleasure or security, often while unaware of some potential danger, defect, or the like; self-satisfaction or smug satisfaction with an existing situation". And then I looked up the definition of content, which means "in a state of peaceful happiness". Wow! I immediately said to God "I get what your saying!"
God does not want us to become complacent because when we do we do not leave Him room to move in our life. We are just walking around almost "blind" to anything around us. We are merely existing. But He does want us to be content. I felt Him say "when I can get you to be content, I can get you to hear me. And when I can get you to hear me I can take you to the next place. But I must get to you to live in peace and to appreciate where I have you now before we can move forward." I firmly believe we are to search out why God has us where we are. What are we supposed to learn right here? What are we supposed to do while we are right here? What are You(God) doing while I am right here to prepare me for where we are going next? See, that is not a place of complacency because you are still seeking, you are still listening and you are still learning.
There were 3 things that I felt God say to me that needed to be in this blog today. Part of which I believe were directly for me, but part of which were going to be for someone reading this today...
One was this....God said "If I can get you to appreciate where I have you right now, then I can get you to appreciate where I want to take you. But if you can't appreciate this place, you won't even realize or recognize when I take you to a better place."
The second one was this....God said "I need you to remember what this feels like, so when I take you out of this place and on to the next place, you' ll have something to compare it to. Not in a bad way, but this is so you'll know I have moved in your life".
And the third was this....God said "you'll always know what "where you've been" feels like, but there is no way to know what "where I want to take you" feels like until I get you there. But I want you to remember that in both places I provided because you remained content. And that is what I wanted to teach you".
I believe God never wants to leave us where we are. I have stated that several times before. BUT, I do believe He wants us to learn to live in peace, being content, no matter where He has us. If He is constantly looking into our heart, then He knows if you are just "making the best of it" while you wait for Him to "hurry up and just move". OR, does your heart say to Him "I may not like this place, I may want you to move me out of this place, but I will live in peace and joy while you have me in this place"? If you don't know the difference then that would be a great place for you to start with Him today. Ask Him to show you what true contentment...true peace, feels like in the midst of any situation. Allow Him to teach you how to live, love and laugh right where you are. So when He brings you into a better place you will be able live, love and laugh bigger!
If God allowed the Israelites to wonder around for 40 years because He didn't feel they were ready for the promise land, then don't think He won't let you sit a little longer where you are so He can teach you and prep you for your "promise". (see Joshua 5:6) He knows what is best for us, and as a good God He doesn't want to give us something that He knows our hearts are not quite ready for.
God, Thank You that you know our hearts. Help our hearts to become content and learn to live in peace while we await your next move. Help us to not stop seeking you, but to seek, listen and wait with joy and excitement in our hearts for how much more you have waiting for us. We love you and honor you where we are God....not necessarily because we love "this" place, but because we know this is the place that you could teach us something to get us to the next place. In Jesus name, Amen.
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